No One Noticed The Cat
by NotWhoYouThinkThisIs
Summary: Lily and James had a cat... and after October 31st, 1981, so did the family that lived next door. And after all, what the Muggles know can't hurt them. R&R!


**Author's Note:**

**Tequila**: okay, so I was rereading Deathly Hallows

**Justin**: --cough-- for the 18 millionth time

**Tequila:** and I noticed the bit about the cat, after Harry reads Lily's letter to Sirius at Grimmauld Place… and I got to wondering…

**Justin**: you think too much… or not at all… or both, somehow…

**Tequila:** --sticks her tongue out and publishes story--

**Disclaimer**: we don't own… don't rub it in:(

"_They had had a cat…perhaps it had perished, like [Harry's] parents, at Godric's Hollow… or else fled when there was nobody left to feed it…" _Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows_, p. 181_

Susan and Nicholas Ormentaafel lived a quiet, ordinary life in the little village of Godric's Hollow. Nicholas was the milkman (and a very good one, too) and Susan took in washing and mending. They had a little girl, and Maya was a sweet little child who loved animals—and really, it all started with Maya.

The Ormentaafels lived a very quiet life, almost at the end of their row of houses. And next door, in the last house of the row, lived a young couple, a very well behaved young man and woman, who only ever seemed to socialize with old Mrs. Bagshot three houses down. But they had a cat—a beautiful dark tabby—that liked to wander.

The first thing Susan knew about this was when she went out into the front lawn to get Maya to come in for lunch and found her daughter laughing and playing with the cat.

"Maya! Where did that cat come from?" Susan wasn't too worried—the cat's collar and clean, groomed fur were both easy indications of a house pet, not a feral animal.

"This is Morgan, mum. She came through the wall."

Susan sighed. "How do you know that cat's name is Morgan, love?"

"It says it on her collar. Morgan, and then a weird squiggly shape."

Susan frowned. If there was no phone number, then… "Did you say she came through the wall, sweetheart?" She peered at the fence. There didn't _seem_ to be a gap.

"Yes, mum."

"Then she probably belongs to that house over there, doesn't she? Shouldn't we return their cat?"

Maya pouted. "But _I'm_ playing with Morgan."

"Maya, Morgan is not your cat, and if you—" Susan was cut off by the fact that the young woman from next door (had she ever known their names?) was standing by the gate, looking uncertain. "Here's Morgan's owner now."

Susan walked up the short path. "Hello, I believe we have your cat."

"Oh, thank goodness. Sorry, I don't think we've ever been introduced," she held out a hand, "Lily Potter."

"Susan Ormentaafel. Hang on half a moment—Maya! Come along, and please bring Morgan."

Susan watched as her daughter walked slowly towards them, carrying the cat.

"Thank you so much—I'm so sorry to be a trouble."

"No need, Maya very much enjoyed playing with Morgan."

Mrs. Potter took the cat back carefully, and said her goodbyes.

And that would have been the last of it, but about three months later, Lily Potter was at the gate again, receiving the cat once more, and apologizing fervently.

"Really, there's absolutely no need to apologize. There's no harm done."

And after that, every three or four months, the cat would come through the fence and eventually Susan became on a first name basis with Lily, and she met James, Lily's tall husband with messy black hair and glasses and an abstracted expression. And when Lily became pregnant, Susan commiserated with cravings and pains. And once Susan even brought up the strange name of the town (Godric's Hollow? Who was _Godric_? What kind of name was that?) which she'd never been able to find any explanation for, and Lily choked and said she had no idea, but it was an odd name, now that you thought of it, wasn't it?

And she even met the baby, once, when Lily came dashing out with him in her arms, to scold at Morgan for scratching the Ormentaafel's trees. A very sweet little boy. A very nice young couple, and so obviously in love.

* * *

And it was very odd—on the day after Halloween, one year, a lovely dark cat that Susan almost recognized came up to the door, and began meowing pitifully. She had a collar on that said her name was Morgan, which meant she probably wasn't feral, but no one ever claimed her and after putting up flyers and adverts and waiting, Susan finally told Maya that yes, they could keep the cat, if Maya really wanted to.

Morgan had arrived the same year that the village put up their War memorial, a bit after the fact, and Nicholas had joked that the cat belonged to one of the workmen. But that was foolish, really. Such a beautiful, elegant cat was most likely an escaped house pet.

It was unusual, though, that every so often she would look at Maya and Morgan playing on the lawn and get the oddest sense of déjà vu. And it was even stranger that when Morgan had kittens Susan suggested, without really knowing why she did so, that they name one of them Lily.

Susan frowned a little, bending over her hedge, looking past her house and wondering why they kept all that space at the end of the row—there was more than enough room for another house, especially with realty prices what they were these days.

**Author's Note, AGAIN:**

**Tequila:** poor Muggles, no idea their memories have been modified…

**Justin:** umm, Tequila, you know you're a Muggle too, right?

**Tequila:** NOOOOO!! NO I'M NOT!! MY HOGWARTS LETTER WAS JUST MISPLACED!!!!!

**Justin:** Tequila, Hogwarts is only for British witches—

**Tequila**: NEVAAAAR!!!!

**Justin:** never mind --sigh--


End file.
